LotR 24 - Mirkwood 18

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Since I still haven't beat Mirkwood with the Lore mono deck, let's continue banging away on it. I have a short window of just over an hour this afternoon to bang out a game.

Time: 3:19.

Initial draw:

  1. Gleowine
  2. Forest Snare
  3. Lorien's Wealth
  4. Gleowine
  5. Gleowine
  6. Gandalf

This is already a mulligan hand, otherwise I'd probably mulligan it. It does have Forest Snare, which I can use immediately.

Round 1

  1. Resource: 3, draw Protector of Lorien.
  2. Planning: Lorien's Wealth, draw Gandalf's Search, Protector of Lorien, Erebor Hammersmith. 0 R.
  3. Quest: Glorfindel, Beravor, draw Caught in a Web, attach to Denethor. Net +2 P on Spiders and Flies. We're ahead of the pack.
  4. Travel: Old Forest Road, ready Glorfindel.
  5. Encounter: Forest Spider.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends, no Shadow, no effect. Glorfindel deals 2 D on Forest Spider.
  7. Refresh: Threat 31.

Time: 3:28.

Round 2

  1. Resource: 2, draw Self Preservation.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: Beravor, draw Dol Goldur Orcs. 0 P.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Goldur Orcs.
  6. Combat: Forest Spider undefended, Shadow to discard Attachment, don't have any! DoL Goldur Orcs deal 2 D to Glorfindel, Glorfindel deal 3 D, dead orcs.
  7. Threat: 32.

Time: 3:32.

Round 3

  1. Resource: 6, draw Daughter of the Nimrodel.
  2. Planning: Daughter of Nimrodel, 3 R remaining. Exhaust Daughter to heal Denethor.
  3. Quest: none, draw King Spider. Threat 33.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: King Spider, exhaust Beravor. That's the game, too much damage already on Beravor and Glorfindel.
  6. Combat: Forest Spider undefended, Shadow none, 2 D on Denethor. King Spider defended by Glorfindel, Shadow discard attachment ha ha fuck you Shadow card I don't have any attachments.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34. Denethor pays 2 and refreshes.

Time: 3:41.

Round 4

  1. Resource: 4, draw Lore of Imladris.
  2. Planning: Forest Snare on King Spider, Daughter heals Denethor.
  3. Quest: none, draw Dol Goldur Beastmaster. Weep. Threat 36.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Goldur Beastmaster.
  6. Combat: Beastmaster, Beravor defends, net 1 D. Forest Spider Denethor defends Shadow none, Glorfindel puts 2 on Forest Spider and away with the beast.
  7. Refresh: Threat 37.

Time: 3:47.

Round 5

  1. Resource: 4, draw Lorien's Wealth.
  2. Planning: play Erebor Hammersmith, 2 R remaining. Exhaust Daughter to heal 2 on Beravor.
  3. Quest: none, draw Eyes of the Forest, discard all Event cards, which would be Lore of Imladris, Gandalf's Search and Lorien's Wealth.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends against Dol Goldur Beastmaster, no Shadow, no Damage. Erebor, Beravor and Glorfindel take it out.
  7. Refresh: Threat 38.

Time: 3:53.

Round 6

  1. Resource: 5, draw Daughter of the Nimrodel.
  2. Planning: play Gandalf, Threat 33. Daughter remove 2 D from Glorfindel.
  3. Quest: Glorfindel, Beravor, Erebor, Gandalf, draw Dol Goldur Orcs, 2 D to Glorfindel. Net +8 P, 1 more to clear Flies and Spiders.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Goldur Orcs.
  6. Combat: Denethor defends, Shadow is Hummerhorns, 1 D on each character, so long Daughter.
  7. Refresh: Threat 34.

Time: 4:00.

Round 7

  1. Resource: 3, draw Dark Knowledge.
  2. Planning: 2 Protector of Lorien on Glorfindel. 1 R remaining.
  3. Quest: Glorfindel with 2 Gleowine discards for +5, draw Dol Goldur Orcs, 2 D to Glorfindel and he's eliminated. That means no progress on quest. Threat 36.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Dol Goldur Orcs.
  6. Combat: I was hoping to get a location or treachery on this draw so as to eliminate the current Dol Goldur Orcs. Too bad so sad. Erebor defends, Shadow none, +1 D. Denethor defends, Shadow none, no effect. Beravor attacks for net 2 D on one of the DGOs.
  7. Threat: 37.

Time: 4:09.

Round 8

  1. Resource: 3, draw Gandalf's Search.
  2. Planning: Self Preservation on Beravor, exhausts to heal 2.
  3. Quest: none, draw Chieftain Ufthak. OFFS. Threat 38.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Chieftain.
  6. Combat: Chieftain takes out Erebor, Beravor undefended on DGO, no Shadow, 2 D. Denethor defends DGO, no shadow, no effect. Beravor kills one of the DGO.
  7. Refresh: Threat 39.

Time: 4:13.

Round 9

  1. Resource: 2, draw Erebor.
  2. Planning: play Erebor, Self Preservation on Beravor exhaust. Protector of Lorien back into hand.
  3. Quest: none, draw Mountains of Mirkwood, Threat 41.
  4. Travel: Mountains of Mirkwood.
  5. Encounter: East Bight Patrol. Crap.
  6. Combat: Chieftain kills Erebor (again), now swinging for 7 hits. DGO undefended on Beravor, no Shadow, 2 D. Denethor and Beravor attack, DGO put away.
  7. Refresh: Threat 42.

Time: 4:19.

Round 10

  1. Resource: 2, draw Daughter of Nimrodel.
  2. Planning: Play Gleowine. Heal Beravor.
  3. Quest: none, draw The Necromancer's Reach, no effect.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: East Bight Patrol.
  6. Combat: Ufthak on Gleowine defending, I need another Forest Snare…too bad I won't have the monies to pay for it. East Bight Patrol undefended, Shadow exhausts both characters, so I can't kill East Bight this turn. Crap.
  7. Refresh: Threat 43.

Time: 4:24.

Round 11

  1. Resource: 2, draw Henamarth Riversong. Meat.
  2. Planning. Play Henamarth. Heal Beravor.
  3. Quest: none, draw Black Forest Bats. Dang. Nobody committed to Quest. Threat 44.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: Black Forest Bats.
  6. Combat: Henamarth defends Chieftain, taost. Denethor undefended on Black Forest Bats, Shadow discard all attachments on all characters. That means Self Preservation is gone. 1 D to Denethor. East Bight Patrol deal 3 D to Beravor. Denethor and Beravor take out East Bight Patrol.
  7. Refresh: 44.

Time: 4:30.

Round 12

  1. Resource: 3, draw Gandalf.
  2. Planning: none.
  3. Quest: none, draw Great Forest Web, Threat 46.
  4. Travel: none.
  5. Encounter: none.
  6. Combat: Ufthak takes out Denethor, now swinging for 13. Calling it here as Beravor can't take another undefended hit, and next round Ufthak will kill her, or we'll be at 50 Threat.
  7. Refresh: Threat 47.

Time: 4:34.

AAR

It's curious how when playing Tactics I go into location lock it seems like all the time, but when playing Lore, the enemies are relentless. I managed to get ahead of them for one round, but wasn't able to keep ahead.

Score:

  • Rounds -120
  • Heros: -30
  • Damage: 0
  • Victory Points: 0
  • Resources: 0

Total: -150.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.